


A Fatherly Voice

by PepperJam



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst/Comfort, Character Death, Family, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, God I wish we could have more sad moments with Lambert, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), verdant wind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:53:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PepperJam/pseuds/PepperJam
Summary: The boar prince has finally fallen to imperial spears as he tried to hunt down his prey. Voices of the dead screamed at him as his blood drained onto the ground, soon to be washed by rain. The world fades away around him, and Dimitri finds himself face to face with the man he dreaded seeing.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Lambert Egitte Blaiddyd
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28





	A Fatherly Voice

**Author's Note:**

> Haha guess who sprained their ankle and can’t go to the hospital!!!!!! Looks like I’ll be here more often.  
> Ahem. This idea isn’t my own. It came from a YouTube comment on this video, by user Superluigi88. You’ll have to scroll a bit, but it’s there. https://youtube.com/watch?v=zBX_cg0jZ6Q  
> Although I added my own special twist ! For funzies.  
> I just want Dimitri to be somewhat happy in this route damn it.

A black beast gave chase to his prey.  
However, this beast was not horned, nor did it run on four legs. It did snarl and bare its teeth, but one would mistake its shape for a human. And to those who knew it, it bore the face of Prince Dimitri.  
At Gronder Field, Dimitri finally had the chance, the _blessing_ to come face to face with the Imperial army, lead none other than Edelgard the rat herself. The Alliance didn’t matter. Sothis had truly heard his cries, and opened the path to his revenge. The voices, Glenn, Father, and Stepmother, roared in Dimitri’s head. Their cries ringed and echoed through his skull, louder than they ever had before.

_”Don't you dare mess this up! You will soak the ground with her blood! Or you’re nothing but a failure!”  
“Are you going to disappoint us again, you pathetic excuse for a son? Will you let her get away? I wouldn’t be surprised.”  
“Tear her head off! For all those trampled and damned, render her to mere pieces of flesh!”_

Even after he was bested by Claude and Failnaught, he didn’t let himself die by that duke’s arrows. Instead, he retreated, hid in the woods like a wolf as he watched his friends die by the hands of former classmates. He saw Hilda and Leonie, Ignatz and Raphael. Byleth, the old professor. Their hands became stained. Most likely, they would still claim they were human.  
For the slightest moment, the voices went silent as he saw Ingrid, Felix, and Mercedes fall one by one. For the slightest moment, his grip on Areadbhar loosened. For the slightest moment, he felt tears brimming on his eyelid.  
But then, he spotted white hair and a red dress. Father yelled at him to chase her and finally rip the life from her body. His relic glowed as his resolve steeled. There was no time to mourn.

His boots slammed down onto the ground , trampling flowers and corpses. Perhaps stealth would be a better approach, but he didn’t have the time or patience to sulk in the dark. Not when the voices of the dead grew in volume as the Emperor drew closer.

“Your Majesty! Get behind us!”

Dimitri’s smile grew wider. So the Imperial dogs wanted to fight him and cover her? No matter. He would slice through them just as he did in the Holy Tomb. He would relish in their blood just like then.  
Edelgard disappeared as the wave of troops stormed towards him. She didn’t even look back at him. Dimitri added gouging her eyes out to the list of torture he planned for her. The prince narrowed his eye and gritted his teeth as he raised Areadbhar to strike down the horde of red.

As expected, Dimitri took their lives as easily as breathing. Crimson lightning bolted through their wounds as divine power flowed from his blood. Soon, the bony tan of his weapon turned dark, his cape drenched in the vital liquid and mud. At times, a soldier would try to take him from the side as Areadbhar was lodged in another body. Dimitri had to crush his skull in his hand, ripping the lance out to swing at another man.  
However, the Imperial army just kept coming. Dimitri’s heart threatened to burst from his chest. His lungs burned as he drew in another shallow breath. The world was starting to spin. He threw more punches, smashed heads into the ground with his boots, and then -

Searing, hot pain.

Warmth started to spread under his armor. His single eye went wide. Dimitri looked down at his chest. A silver lance, pierced through his heart.  
The world stopped spinning. Time stopped moving. His heart stopped beating.  
He saw the imperial troops fall back as he dropped to his knees. Dedue shouted, but it was too late. The voices were all he could hear.

_”You are worse than a dog. At least they accomplish what their master wants!”  
“I’ve always hated you. You were always such a nuisance. You deserve to suffer forever.”_

The world started to fade. _No, not yet!_ Dimitri screamed at himself, somehow hearing his own voice in the cacophony of the dead. _I will get her...I promise!_  
His last attempt, his hand reached out for the blurry red mass in the distance. Areadbhar was too far away. The world was becoming too dark to see.

_”Her heart will continue to beat, her lungs will forever draw breath, and I have no son.”_

***

Instead of burning flames and heat, Dimitri felt...warm. And on his face - was that grass? He breathed. Flowers, sweet flowers flooded his nose. A gentle breeze danced over his skin and played with his hair.  
And...it was silent. Other than the soft wind rustling branches, it was silent. No cries of death, no clanging of metal, he couldn’t even hear his father or stepmother.  
Though, that didn’t mean he was free. If they were silent, he had to pick up the mantle and scold himself. _I don’t have time to lay down on the grass! I’m still at Gronder - she can’t be far...unless I slept for too long. No matter, get up now!_

Dimitri found the strength to push himself up and onto his feet. He rubbed his eye and opened it, although his eyelid weighed as much as he did. The field he was in was blurry...but, it wasn’t Gronder.

Vision started to focus. The field was choked with flowers, cornflowers and periwinkles and morning glories. More flowers than he had ever seen in his life. The sun shone down, and the air was perfectly balmy with the perfect chill. Still, it was silent. He almost relished in it.  
Dimitri shook his head, slapping himself. He didn’t have time to waste, no matter where he was. Someone must’ve dragged him off here - Dedue? Most likely. He grunted, and started to search for his weapon.

“Oh, Dimitri. I thought you would never wake up.”

The prince froze, and so did his heart. That voice - it didn’t come from his head, it came from behind him. Every part of his body became petrified, he didn’t turn around. He couldn’t bear to see the scorn in his eyes.  
“F-father? I...I-I’m-“

A sigh came through, and Dimitri’s blood turned cold. “Dimitri, please come here. Won’t you join me? The tea here is more than fine.”  
He couldn’t disobey an order from his father, and so he dutifully turned heel. However, he kept his gaze downwards as he stepped forward. In front of him, under a delicate willow tree was an elegant tea set. The smell - chamomile was prepared. He nearly gagged as he sat, still staring at his feet.  
“Aw, look at you. Have you been washing your hair? Or sleeping at all?” Lambert chuckled, Dimitri still didn’t look up. “Although I must admit, that eyepatch is...it does fit you. It is strange, but it works.”  
Why was his father speaking so amicably with him? Even though he failed? No, this was his punishment. The wait. Dimitri was never patient. Goddess, it would be easier if his father just killed him right here.

“Come now, son. Look at me.”  
Another command, and Dimitri obeyed. He looked up, but his vision was blurry again. Tears were staining his eye again.  
Lambert frowned and put his cup down. “Oh, what’s wrong? Ah - you look so young...you...you must’ve died early. I’m so sorry, my son-“  
“Stop it.” Dimitri choked out.  
His father blinked, eyes widened. It was rude to interrupt Lambert, but if that made him stop with this punishment, that was for the better.

Dimitri wiped the tears from his eye, suppressing the urge to sniffle and sob. “Stop _torturing_ me like this. Yell at me, scream at me, call me a failure! Denounce me as your flesh and blood! Anything but _this!_ ” He turned his gaze to a glare, marred with self-abasement. He shot from his chair and whipped his head around, yelling, “Where’s Stepmother? Or Glenn? Are they waiting just to hurt me too? Come out! Kill me as many times as you need!”  
Lambert stood up, his hands splayed out. “Dimitri, calm yourself! Why - why would I call you a failure?”  
“ _ **Because I failed you all!**_ ” he almost spat on his father’s face. “I didn’t kill Edelgard. I couldn’t stop her, I couldn’t even land a scratch on her! Now she’ll trample over all the bones of Fódlan, she’ll step on your lingering regrets and faces! Because I couldn’t stop her! I couldn’t exact _your_ revenge and give you her head! Even when you screamed at me for those 9 years! I _**failed!**_ ”

At this point, Dimitri was clutching his head, tangling in his greasy blonde hair, black gloves obscuring his sight. This world started to spin as well, just like it did at Gronder. What a creative hell the Goddess designed for him. But for once, he felt he didn’t deserve it.

He shook his head like a dog, stuck in the blazing guilt ever since that day in Duscur. Another promise, in the vain of death. Maybe it would agitate his father to finally deal true punishment. “I...I will claw my way back to life. I swear it! I’ll find a path to pick my up body again and chase her down! Please, I will, I pro-“

Then, Lambert hugged him.  
Dimitri’s arms were caught upwards, it was quite uncomfortable - but it was a hug. The prince tried to squirm out his grasp, but his father only tightened his grasp. Not enough to crush.  
“...that voice wasn’t mine, son.”  
Here, his heart stopped once more. His eye became the moon. His whole body started to quiver, and Lambert rubbed his son’s back in response to Dimitri’s wordless state.

“I - you - it wasn’t-“ Half-formed sentences started spilling from his mouth as the hug was held. “But...Glenn and Patricia -“  
His father sighed. “Did you hear them too? It’s the same as me - that was not their voices.”  
“It _was_ them.” Dimitri sobbed, tears forming in his eye again. “I know it. That’s...that’s why I devoted my life to revenge you cried for-“  
“While what I truly wanted was you to be happy. My last words...I didn’t mean them at heart...” Lambert said. “Same goes for Glenn, and your Stepmother. Please, believe me, son. Those voices in your mind crying for vengeance...those weren’t us.”

Dimitri’s knees buckled, and his legs gave out. The ground came closer as his father guided his limp body gently to the soft grass. At last, he finally sobbed. He hiccuped and sniffled as fat tears rolled down his cheeks and stained his father’s clothes. Lambert didn’t say anything, merely continued to rub Dimitri’s back.  
The prince didn’t know how long it was until the tears dried up and he could breathe again, but Lambert stayed with him and stayed silent, letting only the wind fill the air.  
“F-father,” Dimitri swallowed. “Y-you can l-let me go n-now.”  
“Do you promise you can stand up on your own?”  
A weak laugh escaped Dimitri, and he didn’t cut it short. “I promise.”

Father and son stood up, the son taking a bit more time. “Now then, how about we finish this tea?”  
Dimitri sat down, legs still shaking. A faint smile came on him. “I would love to…”  
Lambert smiled back, but then gave an exasperated groan. “Oh by the Saints, it’s gone cold...I’ll have to make a new pot.”


End file.
